South Side Loses to Sayville in Long Island Class A Final, 3-0

After allowing only three goals all season, the South Side boy's soccer team saw that number matched in one game, as they fell to Sayville 3-0 in the Class A Long Island championship Sunday at Dowling College.

The Cyclones never get into a rhythm against a stout Golden Flashes defense – who also only allowed three goals this season – and struggled to stop an opportunistic Sayville attack that managed to double South Side's goals against total for the entire season.

After the game, Cyclones coach Fred Paul said he was disappointed, but didn't want to discount his team's achievements from an otherwise successful season.

"We didn't play our game, there were a lot of things we could have done differently, and that's unfortunate for us," he said. "You still can't take away from what these kids have done. They dedicated themselves for a long season, and not too many players are lucky enough to win two straight county championships."

Sayville continually sliced through the Cyclone defense, working from the outside in, and senior Sean Fulham snuck two balls past goalie Deven Khosla from within ten yards.

On his first goal, which set the tone just 12 minutes into the first half, Fulham was getting knocked down in the middle of a scrum of defenders, and the ball managed to slip out of the pack, off the far post and into the net.  No one was more surprised that the ball went in than Fulham.

"I just started dribbling through the middle and took a whack at it – I didn't even see where it went," he said. "I'm not the best player, but I'm scrappy and got in there and made it happen."

Sayville coach Val Winter agreed that Fulham has a proclivity for finishing when it counts.

"If there's a loose ball, Sean is there – he is a big game player," he said. "He is a big time player and just has a nose for the ball."

Fulham's second goal came eight minutes into the second half, after he drop kicked a ball from 12 yards out past Khosla off a cross from sophomore Robert Hamnierie. Jon Paciorek put the exclamation point on the win, drilling a rebound off of Khosla's hands into the back of the net two minutes later to put the game out of reach.

This is Sayville's first Long Island championship since 2007. 

The Golden Flashes allowed just three goals all season, and senior goalie Dan Scheck did a good job of directing his defense and not letting balls pass him. 

"Scheck is a rock out there for us, we trust him," Fulham said. "We know that our defense is solid, and if we get a goal they will hold and we can hopefully get a second."